Friday, May 18, 2012

The Cat Man-Irwin Hasen-1940

Not to be confused with the Catman who has a young girl named Kitten as his partner, this particular hero has the gimmick of having nine lives. He sometimes gets killed in his adventures only to revive for a few more lives. Very early art by the still with us Irwin Hasen who would later go on to draw the DONDI newspaper strip.

2 comments:

I believe that the reader was supposed to see this Cat Man (aka “Cat-Man”, aka “Catman”) as the same fellow who later ran around with Kitten. Both Cat-Men were named “David Merrywether”, and both were published by the same (evolving) group of folks, with about half a year between the story above and the first issue of Cat-Man Comics.

This IS the same Cat-Man who would get a sidekick named Kitten about one year after this story. This story is only his second appearance, which is 1940. The cheap store bought looking costume, him being a “new agent”, and his three deaths in his early days indicates we are looking at a young, inexperienced man fresh out of college, and merely beginning his career. We know he has a degree because it’s required to be a federal agent, and his career as an Army officer next year. Six months would pass before we see Cat-Man again in Cat-Man Comics #1, while this Crash Comics title was cancelled. His own title is essentially the same book, but the publishers wanted a headliner hero. The six months absence is a perfect way to explain him going for Army officer training. When we see him in uniform for the first time in December 1941, he is already job qualified.

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First published in 1968 (I was 9!), I have been writing professionally part-time for more than two decades. I have been freelancing for various authors, editors and publishers for the past three years on the behind-the-scenes tasks of writing.